Cigarette snuffer and collector



Dec. 13, 1960 w. M. BRYAN 2,964,044

CIGARETTE SNUFFER AND COLLECTOR Filed May 5. 1958 EFF 173080191 MEI/few ,Zryam j/W CIGARETTE SNUFFER AND COLLECTOR William M. Bryan, Everett Mailing Company, 609 Broadway, Everett, Mass.

Filed May 5, 1958, Ser. No. 733,033

1 Claim. (Cl. 131-256) The field of the present invention is generally that of devices for extinguishing and collecting smoking articles, especially cigarettes, and more particularly of such devices which are especially suited for use in confined locations.

Objects of the present invention are to provide a cigarette snuifer and collector which occupies a minimum space and can be accommodated at places where it is easily reached, such as by the occupants of automobiles, which can be manufactured cheaply and yet strongly and durably, which can be mounted, emptied and cleaned with a minimum of etfort, which extinguishes cigarettes quickly, and whose receptacle can be essentially hidden from view within spaces of various configurations available for that purpose.

A brief summary characterizes the invention as com prising a tube sufficiently wide to pass a cigarette and having two open ends and therebetween on the inside a snufimg protuberance and on the outside attaching means, and detachably fastened to one end of this tube an open end of a flexible conduit or hose which is just wide enough to accommodate a cigarette and which is permanently closed or clamped ofi at the other end. A cigarette butt inserted at the free end of the tube is quickly extinguished by the inwardly projecting protuberance and by the lack of oxygen within the conduit and loosely held at the protuberance, the consecutively inserted cigarettes collect in the conduit which due to its flexibility can be arranged in any convenient space for example behind or below the dashboard of an automobile, and the butts can be easily disposed of after detaching the collecting hose from the receiving and snufiing tube.

In a preferred embodiment the rigid cigarette receiving tube is flared outwardly at the upper end and ridged and flared inwardly at the other end, and the inwardly projecting protuberance is part of a somewhat flattened and tapped portion for receiving the mounting screw of a conventional suction cup which is used to attach the tube to a convenient support; the flexible conduit is preferably made of synthetic plastic material such as polyethylene which can be easily sealed at one end by pinching with a heated tool, or by clamping one open end, and which can be easily cleaned.

These and other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of two embodiments illustrating its novel characteristics.

The description refers to a drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device according to the invention, with intermediate portions of the flexible conduit broken away;

Fig. 2 is an axial section of the device showing the eifect of consecutive insertion of cigarette butts there into;

Fig. 3 is a section on lines 33 of Fig. 2, the cup base being shown flattened; and

Fig. 4 shows, similar to the lower portion of Fig. 3, an embodiment using a clamp for closing one end of the hose.

In the figures, numeral 11 indicates a rigid tube made for example of metal such as brass or stainless steel and suitably finished. This tube is flared at 12 in the shape of a funnel, and at the other end an annular ridge 14 and a drawn in lip 15 facilitate the attachment thereto of a flexible conduit; these can be dispensed with if the conduit is of sufficient elasticity such that it can be easily and securely attached to a plain tube. The tube 11 also has a somewhat flattened and inwardly protruding projection or boss 17 which is tapped at 18 to receive the screw 24 of a suction cup 21. The projection 17 reaches far enough into the inside of the tube 11 such as slightly to impede the progress of and to snuff a cigarette stump, as indicated in Fig. 2 for the stump numbered II.

The suction cup 21 of the usual construction has a body 22 with a lip 23 that can be contacted in the usual manner with a support S to attach the cup thereto, as shown in Fig. 1. The suction cup has molded thereinto the above mentioned screw 24 which extends somewhat beyond the stem 25 of the suction cup.

The flexible conduit 31, made for example of polyethylene plastic has an open end 32 and a closed end 33, and can be of considerable length depending on the desired cigarette collecting capacity. This flexible tube can be tucked into any convenient space such as behind the dashboard of an automobile and if desired running down the sloping front portion of the floor plate.

Instead of permanently closing the end of tubing 31 as shown at 33, it can be left open on both sides and closed at the outer end by means of a conventional clamp. This modification is shown in Fig. 4 wherein 41 is a piece of hose, left as cut and near one end 42 provided with a clamp 43.

The operation of this device is as follows:

The rigid tube 11 is attached to a suitable surface such as a dashboard by means of the suction cup 21. It does not necessarily have to be vertical so long as its angle of inclination permits gravitational discharge of a cigarette butt into the flexible conduit 31, aided by the pushing force exerted thereon by the next stub or stubs; it Was found that this force is suificient to propel the cigarette butts within the smooth conduit 31 even if the latter deviates considerably from a vertical position and curves in various directions.

The first stub, marked 1, that is inserted into the tube 11 will initially assume the position indicated at H in Fig. 2, and the protuberance 17 will engage and partly extinguish the stub. The next stub such as indicated at III of Fig. 2 will push the previous stub II into position I, at which position it moves into the conduit 31. Consecutive stubs advance the preceding ones until the tube is filled.

The supply of oxygen in the conduit 31 being restricted, the stubs are extinguished very soon if they have not been completely snuffed by the protuberance 17.

The condition of the tube 31 can be easily checked if the plastic material of which it is made is at least translucent.

When the conduit is full, or if otherwise desired, the end 32 is detached from the end 14 of the rigid tube 11 and emptied, conveniently by grasping it near the closed end 33 and shaking it. It can then be very easily re-attached to the inwardly contracted end 15 of the tube 11, ready for repeated use.

As an alternative, the clamp 43 (Fig. 4) can be removed and the hose 41 shaken on either side. This modiflcation permits especially easy and thorough cleaning by flushing the flexible conduit with water.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A cigarette snuffer and collector comprising: a tube of a Width sufficient to pass a cigarette, having means for receiving a cigarette at one end, and means for facilitating the attaching of a hose .at the ether tendtfor discharging a cigaretteinto the hose, and intermediate these ends an inwardly extending recessedprotuberance; means inserted into said protuberance, foriasteningsaid tube .to a support; said hose :beingfiexible and having an open end adapted for detachable fixation to said other end of said tube; whereby each cigarette stump that is inserted into the receiving end of the tube is impeded in its progress by said protuberance, may be pushed beyond the protuberance by a subsequently inserted stump, to be safely extinguished and passed into said hose :and whereby the extinguished stumps can be disposed of by emptying the hose through an open end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,186,595 Moen June 13, 1916 1,620,036 Pemberton Mar. 8, 1927 2,633,854 Boland et al. Apr. 7, 1953 2,777,449 Foster; J an. :15, 1957 FOREIGNPATENTS 57,265 Denmark Feb. 12, 1940 634,841 Great Britain Mar. 29, 1950 736,575 France Sept. 20, 1932 

